Titus Brandsma's history is rich and grand. In 2022, Titus Brandsma O. Carm. was canonised. After completing his doctorate at the Gregoriana in Rome (1909), Titus spent 14 years in Oss, where the Carmel study house was located. Besides teaching young Carmelites in training, he became active in the social life of the town. He received much attention as a journalist and as editor-in-chief of De stad Oss, which he gave a new profile. He also founded the magazine Carmelrozen, focusing mainly on spirituality, for which he wrote a large number of articles.
Journalism
Journalism always held a special place in his life, in Titus' view journalism was an excellent 'modern' opportunity to give spiritual life a place in the even then secularising society. For instance, he wrote articles on Dutch piety in De Gelderlander and became an advisor to the Roman Catholic Journalists' Association. Titus gained most fame as Professor of Philosophy at the Catholic University of Nijmegen, founded in 1923, of which he was also rector magnificus for one year (1932/33). His last writing was in the penal prison in Scheveningen, a defence on the orders of der Gestapo, which was also published as his last writing.
Preserving his writings
Titus Brandsma's writings are preserved in the Titus Brandsma Archives of the Dutch Carmelite Institute. This archive includes thousands of documents. Brandsma wrote some 700 articles for various publications, but the archives also contain thousands of unpublished articles, speeches, notes and letters.
Accessible to the general public
Through the 'Edition Project Titus Brandsma', the Titus Brandsma Insitute aims to make these works more accessible to the general public. This way, they can be used for reading and studying. This project started in 2014 and it will probably take about 20 years before all Titus' work is available. The writings prepared for publication will be published online.
